EN hUMIN in 1 Cor 3.18

Steven Lo Vullo slovullo at mac.com
Sat Nov 23 02:03:20 EST 2002


Greetings to all:

1 Cor 3.18: EI TIS DOKEI SOFOS EINAI EN hUMIN EN TWi AIWNI TOUTWi, 
MWROS GENESQW, hINA GENHTAI SOFOS.

It seems that there are two possible ways to construe EN hUMIN--either 
with TIS or SOFOS. It looks like most English translations opt for the 
former ("anyone among you" or something similar). The only exception I 
know of is the ASV ("If any man thinketh that he is wise among you in 
this world"). It seems to me that the difference is substantial. If 
construed with TIS, the reference would be simply to anyone among them 
who considered himself wise. If construed with SOFOS, the reference 
would be to someone who fancied himself wise among, i.e., in comparison 
with, others in the congregation. This would seem to fit not only the 
immediate, but also the broader context of 1 Corinthians, where the 
exaltation of one above another or of oneself above others is 
prominent. Its position in the sentence would seem to substantiate this 
understanding. DOKEI introduces an object clause expressing indirect 
speech. So EN hUMIN, placed as it is within the object clause, would 
seem more naturally to be part of the indirect speech than part of the 
controlling clause. Converted to direct speech, we would have something 
like, "I consider myself wise among you," or, to loosely paraphrase, 
"Among this lot, I think I'm a standout in the wisdom department." Does 
this sound right?
============

Steven R. Lo Vullo
Madison, WI




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